Interview with Rome I - Part 12 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 12 of 17.
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Perry: Yes, that is one thing that is well documented. Your trial, although I don’t think that word is an accurate description.
Rome: Right. On Earth, the Vuduri don’t have trials. Since everybody knows what everybody else has done, no Vuduri would ever think to break the law. Before Oronus, the Juiz, I admitted my “crimes” so it was a foregone conclusion that I was guilty. The sentence is what caught me by surprise. Termination by evaporation? I was actually scared.
Perry: A death sentence. That seems a little harsh for someone who saved the world.
Rome: The Vuduri are essentially binary. Yes or no. Right or wrong. They didn’t have room in their judicial system to consider mitigating factors. I was kind of stunned by the sentence so I didn’t really speak up for myself. But Rei did. My sweet Rei, he showed them the true power of being able to think for yourself. The Vuduri never stood a chance. By the time he was done with them, they either had to commit planetary suicide or let me go.
(Perry nods and chuckles)
Perry: And OMCOM?
Rome: After we left Tabit, I was able to figure out what OMCOM was up to. Without being modest, I can tell you that I am fairly intelligent. But back then, I was just learning to use my brain. This was the first time that I was able to connect apparently unrelated facts to find a pattern, an answer, that made sense.
Perry: You aren’t being modest. You are what you are.
Rome: It’s more than that. Think of the brain as a muscle. I hadn’t used that muscle in so long, it was very well rested. Untainted. So as time wore on, I was able to use it more and more. It kind of exploded when I learned about the Essessoni data slabs and got to see, for the first time, all the facts and artifacts from all the generations stretching back to the beginning of mankind. To use one of Rei’s funny phrases, it was mind-blowing. My brain was unleashed. Sometimes I’m torn between my feelings and logic but they usually get along well together. To be able to think critically is possibly the most important part of being human. Well, that and love. My emotions sometimes get the best of me, especially when it comes to my children, but there are many times my emotions serve me as well as my intellect.
Perry: Anything more you want to say about OMCOM?
Rome: The list of things he did is a long one. He “enhanced” Rei without his permission and because of that, all of our descendants will acquire those changes. I don’t think it is all bad. I took the same “magic” pill that Rei took. It killed my bloco and stilo which is inconvenient sometimes. That wasn’t so terrible all things considered. Ultimately, the worst thing OMCOM did was what he put my poor baby, Lupe, through when he had her kidnapped and taken to Heaven.
Perry: I know the story but what was the logic behind that?
Rome: OMCOM, or Planet OMCOM, was so powerful that he felt our universe was not complex enough for him. He had purposely allowed the VIRUS units to mutate so that they could explore not only this universe but see if there were others. When one of them returned with information about the existence of Heaven, OMCOM got very excited. He would finally get to collate all the knowledge that ever existed.

Tomorrow, part 13